More than 6 months late, I've finally gone through with my plan and built myself a computer. This is the first time I've ever assembled a system, and it went surprisingly well. Ars Technica's guide was very helpful, but failed to mention that steel cases will easily carve deep grooves in wood furniture when handled at odd angles.

I'm not quite finished. I want more and better fans (Scythe Slip Stream), possibly PWM for the CPU. As it is, the system is very quiet but clearly audible. The noise is a gentle low-frequency whoosh with a touch of hiss from the HDD. Seek noise is barely noticeable and, thanks to the SSD, very infrequent.

Under 8 threads of Prime95 the CPU peaks at 65 °C. It will turbo boost for about 3 minutes and then clock down to nominal speed. Performance should be very good - I've not yet tested it, but the dubious Windows Experience Index rates it thus: Processor 7.6, memory 7.6, graphics 6.4, gaming graphics 6.4, primary storage 7.8, all out of 7.9. I also timed a cold boot at 24 seconds to the Windows desktop.

RAM is dirt cheap these days, 16 GB cost me less than the CPU heatsink. The HDD, on the other hand...

The keyboard is probably not the typist's first choice, but it's well laid out, decent enough to type on, nicely illuminated, and very slim. I love the G500 mouse to bits. It replaces an MX518 which has served me well for 4 years. The MX518 was always a tad narrow for me and the G500 is slightly broader and, in my hand, more comfortable to grip. Tracking is flawless, and the range of adjustment is very wide indeed. Onboard storage is icing on the cake.

Oh, and that Dell monitor is lovely, especially compared to the dim, glossy, angle-hypersensitive, washed-out turd of a laptop screen I've put up with for so long.

Of course, this is a gallery, so without further ado: Pictures! Click for large versions.

Very nice, and quite a clean built you've got there. Now, for the questions?

- How do the stock fans perform acoustically?- Do you feel that there's enough space behind the motherboard tray for all your cables?- I believe you use the included fan controller? Do you run the fans at the lowest possible speed?

They're not too bad. Like Lawrence Lee's review unit, my front fan ticks, but it's quiet enough to be drowned out by the current airflow noise, and it's also quieter than the HDD seek noise.

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Do you feel that there's enough space behind the motherboard tray for all your cables?

Just. I never struggled to get the panel back on, but I don't know how the thickness of my ATX power cable compares to others. Anything much thicker than flat SATA cables could not have crossed over it so easily.

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Do you run the fans at the lowest possible speed?

I can't. The Noctuas have a higher starting voltage and are currently limiting how slowly I can run the case fans as they're all on the same channel. I tried Noctua's in-line resistors (LNA, not ULNA) on the case fans, but the voltage drop was higher than the difference in starting voltage, so I had to run the Noctua fans above their minimum speed, giving an overall increase in perceived noise. I might get closer with the case fans on ULNAs and CPU fans on LNAs, but I haven't tried because I consider all the current fans temporary. If you're interested in this particular combination I can try it out, the resistors are easy enough to add.

Two questions:1. Isn't it too hot for the HDD in there? It is a tight space, and you also blocked the airflow with the foam.2. Have you tried reducing the number of case fans? With no GPU, the system should be fine with just the exhaust fan.

I don't have any HDD testing programs, but busy or not it produces very little heat, 5.3 W when reading or writing and 3.3 W at idle according to Western Digital. It topped out at 34 °C while running Prime95+FurMark, but I had only recently powered up the system so it might eventually have climbed higher. Still, I really don't think such a cool and lightly-used drive actually needs any ventilation in a desktop - perhaps if one were to wrap it completely in foam on all sides...

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Have you tried reducing the number of case fans?

No, I'd rather try smoother-sounding and slower-spinning fans. I'd like to use positive pressure to make the most of the dust filters, and I'd expect more, slower fans to be quieter than fewer, faster fans at equal airflow. I'll find out once I order some Slip Streams.

I don't have any HDD testing programs, but busy or not it produces very little heat, 5.3 W when reading or writing and 3.3 W at idle according to Western Digital. It topped out at 34 °C while running Prime95+FurMark, but I had only recently powered up the system so it might eventually have climbed higher. Still, I really don't think such a cool and lightly-used drive actually needs any ventilation in a desktop - perhaps if one were to wrap it completely in foam on all sides...

Good points, and since you've got the SSD, the HDD will be used less.

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Have you tried reducing the number of case fans?

No, I'd rather try smoother-sounding and slower-spinning fans. I'd like to use positive pressure to make the most of the dust filters, and I'd expect more, slower fans to be quieter than fewer, faster fans at equal airflow. I'll find out once I order some Slip Streams.

In my experience, Slip Streams are simply excellent fans. Even at full blast (1200RPM) they're smooth and blend with the ambient. If undervolted, running at 600-700RPM, they're inaudible (at least in my system and where I sit).On my Solo, I've found that removing the punched honeycomb grill greatly improved acoustics with the exhaust Slip Stream. You might want to consider that in your case.

On my Solo, I've found that removing the punched honeycomb grill greatly improved acoustics with the exhaust Slip Stream. You might want to consider that in your case.

I might consider that if any noise remains once I've finalised the fan configuration, but I don't like the thought of cutting up a nice case. Odd, really, since I wouldn't mind building a custom case from scratch...

I've put my assumption regarding HDD heat to the test. From a cold boot it will reach 36 °C after two hours. Running Check Disk, the only means I have of loading the HDD, it'll reach 43 °C in another hour. Adding full CPU load to the mix for the next hour pushes it slowly to 45 °C, and it will fall back to 43 °C equally slowly once the CPU idles. Check Disk done, it'll soon drop below 40 °C. Western Digital claims it can tolerate an ambient temperature of 60 °C, but I don't think I'll be testing that...

The Fractal Design and Noctua fans have been replaced with Scythe Slip Streams, and I've invested in some desktop audio.

I now have three intake fans, all filtered, and one exhaust. The resulting positive pressure is enough for a small fraction of air to pass through the fanless power supply. Three of the case fans are 500-rpm Slip Stream 120, but the PSU is too long to fit a full-height fan in the bottom intake. Here sits an 800-rpm Slip Stream Slim 120 with a Noctua-supplied U.L.N.A. in-line resistor to better match the other case fans. All intake fans are attached to the front fan header via a three-way splitter, the exhaust is plugged into the rear fan header, and all are set to 75% duty cycle in the BIOS which supports fixed-speed undervolting of non-PWM fans. The Fractal Design fan controller is redundant and has been removed. The heatsink holds a pair of Slip Stream 140 PWM fans controlled by the CPU fan header via a PWM splitter.

System noise is lower than before, to the point where it is no longer clearly audible until I've spent a few seconds listening for it. The overall sound character is even smoother and lower in frequency. The HDD has been given some more foam and its idle hiss is now indistinguishable from the airflow noise. Super quiet, in other words.

Also new are two bookshelf speakers driven by a small amplifier with integrated DAC, in turn fed by the optical output on the motherboard. The amp feels very punchy even with such small speakers (they have the footprint of a DVD cover). So far I'm very pleased with this combination.

Clearly, this calls for a new gallery. Click for large versions.

The whole lot. Drinking horn sold separately.

My desk will never be this clean again. Ever.

Danish speakers.

Sounds as good as it looks.

I've yet to find out how far this knob turns...

DAC+amp.

Optical and coaxial inputs accept 24-bit 192 kHz signals.

Approximately 42% of these stickers are useful. 136% of people on the Internet use percentages recklessly.

Supplied fan controller unused, removed. Each CPU fan has its own controller bracket.

I don't quite understand the idea of using a fanless PSU and then having to use additional case fans to provide positive pressure through the case. Seems you accomplish the same thing with a PSU with fan.

Is the lower vent on the Define Mini normally blocked or always open? Also, is the lower drive cage removable?

I've been debating using the Define Mini for a new build, but the size of the case is really just an ATX minus about 2" in height. Since my PC rests on the floor, I think I may just as well go with an ATX version.

I don't think it's actually necessary to provide any airflow to the PSU in this modest system, and surely negative pressure would be better for the PSU as it would then be an intake. I use positive pressure mainly to force all incoming air through the dust filters.

The Define Mini is not that small, but I just couldn't justify buying an ATX case when I know I'll never need an ATX motherboard. That said, the Define R3 looks so good in white I almost bought it instead...

Lsv: The speakers are meant to be placed against a wall, and the bass reflex port is tuned to that end, but no matter how I try to fit my desk against a wall it gets in the way of something else. I might try to fashion a pair of stands, though. As you say, they should be at the same height and the same angle as the monitor.

I don't think I understand your question about the side vent. It is blocked.

It's listed at 23 € in the review. That's not much cheaper, and I can't find any Danish retailers. If you're gonna buy it overseas, you might as well get the real deal. The Sharkoon Vibe Fixer looks like a rebranded NoiseMagic NoVibes, and the NoiseMagic shop lists the NoVibes at 18 €. Shipping to Denmark is another 5.40 €.

Thank you Jens. This gallery was really helpful for me. I have a Nzxt H2 today and am thinking of changing to a define mini. I also have the Seasonic X-460 PSU and needed to know what the clearance to the bottom 120mm fan placement would be. Seems only a slim 120mm will fit that way. I have asked Seasonic if it would be ok to place the PSU upside down considering there is a vent at the bottom and decent clearance underneath.

Seasonic customer support says having PSU upside down might result in overheating... i didn't get the impression the customer support was very good.

It is indeed impossible to fit a standard fan with this PSU. Even the slim fan is a squeeze - it took some force to bend the wires sharply enough. Mind you, it's not strictly needed for my configuration...

It's listed at 23 € in the review. That's not much cheaper, and I can't find any Danish retailers. If you're gonna buy it overseas, you might as well get the real deal. The Sharkoon Vibe Fixer looks like a rebranded NoiseMagic NoVibes, and the NoiseMagic shop lists the NoVibes at 18 €. Shipping to Denmark is another 5.40 €.

I've found that NoiseMagic (Germany) sells the Sharkoon VibeFixer (same design as NoVibes) for only 12 euro. That's quite a bargain IMO.

I ended up playing more games than I anticipated, and Intel's graphics drivers are just terrible. 3D frame rates are decent enough, but OpenGL support does not live up to Intel's claims, and the anisotropic filtering is laughable.

So I bought a Sapphire HD7750 Ultimate, favourably reviewed by SPCR. My experience mirrors that of the reviewer - the card never exceeds 70 degrees C. Interestingly, high CPU loads reduce the GPU temperature thanks to peripheral airflow from my top-down CPU cooler. A note on compatibility: I had to remove the CPU cooler before fitting the card, and with the Sapphire HD7750 Ultimate installed on the Intel DH67GD, the Noctua NH-C14 only fits with the heatpipe bends pointing towards the graphics card. This is not a problem in a standard tower case as this puts the hot end of the pipes above the cool end, but some towers with non-standard motherboard orientation might be ill suited for this particular combination.

My desk is a sorry mess, so I haven't taken any pictures. Edit: now I have.

The controllers are an integrated part of the CPU fans - "Scythe Slip Stream 140 PWM Adjustable VR". They have a PCI bracket fixed midway down the cable with a switch and a knob. The switch changes the fan between PWM and non-PWM mode. In non-PWM mode, the knob adjusts fan voltage. In PWM mode, the knob controls the speed range. I currently have them set to PWM and full speed range. The motherboard then runs them at minimum speed (just under 600 RPM) at "0% duty cycle" and maximum speed (approximately 1800 RPM) at 100%. Prime95 doesn't push them past 1000 RPM at 69 degrees C, and Handbrake, the highest real-world load they'll ever have to pull, only hits 800 RPM at 66 degrees.

There's also a 120 mm version. The PWM+VR versions are more expensive than the PWM version which in turn are more expensive than the fixed-speed fans, but there's no 'simple' PWM version of the Slip Stream 140, and the motherboard only adjusts 4-pin fans.

Cool -- did not know that there were fans with built-in controllers that slotted into PCI brackets. (being able to switch between PWM and VR with the knob controlling voltage/fixed speed is also very cool)

But jitter on the S/PDIF out from a typical sound card or motherboard is terrible. Asynch USB should be nearly jitter free.

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USB would bypass the on-board sound chip

For music, that's good. Unless you want to apply some kind of EQ with the sound card or need to use the computer's digital volume control. You should compare the different inputs by listening to some well recorded music in a lossless format like ALAC or FLAC.

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and I don't want to use the DAC as a sound card.

It's not really a sound card in any sense, just a D to A converter.

I wish I could find the Argon DA2 in the US, but it doesn't appear to have a distributor here. It's the perfect size and configuration for my desktop audio system. I'd use the USB input from the computer and would use the coax S/PDIF or analog input for a Squeezebox Touch in my office.

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